Branching Birds by Hugh Cook

I stare at shifting light
Bleeding through the curt branches
Tapping shadows and sunburnt clouds.
I feel like the wind-caught leaves
Finding themselves walked in delicate circles.

Chestnut and dark cinnamon feathers
Land above,
Looking at me,
From endless black eyes that say
“Beauty remains.”

A teary breeze took the bird off
Leaving me for what
Next drives into my mind’s wild circles.
~
Biography:  Hugh Cook attends University of California, Santa Barbara, studying Writing and Literature. He has authored a collection titled The Day it Became a Circle (Afterworld Books). His poetry has been published in Tipton Poetry Journal, Ariel Chart and Muddy River Poetry Review.